Wednesday, 31 May 2017

Standing up and welcoming everyone to the spiritualist church is something Patrick McLaughlin does most evenings. Most of the faces in the audience are familiar to him, except one. David Hopkirk walks into the West End Spiritualist church in Glasgow and slits his own throat in the middle of a demonstration. Buy why?

Patrick is then catapulted into a case, which sees the death of a child, a failed court case and a family torn apart.

Soon Patrick will have all the pieces of the puzzle but will he be able to fit them together in time?

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One thing I really like with novellas is that it gives one the chance to see if a series will work for you or not. There are several times when I have read a novella and afterward decided to buy a book in the series because I liked the novella so much.

The Suicide Plan starts off with Patrick McLaughlin getting the shock of his life when David Hopkirk walks into the West End Spiritualist church in Glasgow and slits his throat before Patrick's eyes. Since Patrick is a medium can see ghosts and it doesn't take long for David to reach out to Patrick to plead with him to find out who killed his son. Can Patrick find out the truth about the death of David's son and also find peace for David and his son in the afterlife?

The Suicide Plan is a short novella, it doesn't take a long time to read it and with few characters in the story isn't the outcome of the story a complete surprise. However, it's more than a crime story, it's a study in relationships and consequences (with a paranormal angle). How selfish decisions can ruin everything. It's in the essence a very tragic story.

I found Patrick McLaughlin to be an interesting character. As a fan of paranormal books did I really like this short novella and it would be interesting to read a book in this series to really get to know Patrick McLaughlin and get a really meaty story.

I want to thank the publisher for providing me with a free copy for an honest review! Author Bio:

Emma Clapperton, born December 1985, has always had a passion for reading and writing. She particularly enjoys reading supernatural or horror books.Emma studied childcare and gained qualifications to work with the early years in 2002, later going on to work in the Montessori sector of early years. In 2017 she gained a qualification to work as a Forest School early years leader and can often be found teaching three and four year olds how to cook on an open fire. She is the writer of a supernatural crime series based in Glasgow, which she writes under the pen name of Emma L Clapperton. She currently resides in a little town outside of the city of Glasgow with her husband and ginger cat and is working on future projects.

Dream A Little Death

by Susan Kandel

on Tour May 23 - June 23, 2017

Synopsis:

The first time I set eyes on Miles McCoy, I worried he might try to eat me. He was the size and girth of a North American grizzly, with long, silver-tipped hair, a long silver-tipped beard, and small dark eyes that bore into me like I was a particularly fine specimen of Chinook salmon. It couldn't have helped that I'd used a honey scrub the morning we met. I should've known better. Not just about the scrub, but about a lot of things.

Like braving the freeway during rush hour.Like thinking you can't get a ticket for parking at a broken meter.Like racing up to his penthouse in gladiator sandals, and expecting not to twist an ankle.Like watching his fiancée shoot herself, and assuming it was suicide, instead of murder.

Meet Dreama Black. A 28 year-old, third-generation groupie trying to figure out who she is after being publicly dumped by the rock god whose mega-hit, "Dreama, Little Dreama" made the name and the girl world-famous. Now Dreama supports herself by running custom-designed, themed tours of her hometown of L.A. When she is hired by a Raymond Chandler-obsessed rap producer to create a "L.A. noir" tour as his present to his soon-to-be bride, Dreama gets pulled into the middle of a possible murder, corrupt cops, and an unforgettable pair of femme fatales.

Read an excerpt:

Chapter 1
The first time I set eyes on Miles McCoy, I worried he might try to eat me. He was the size and girth of a North American grizzly bear, with long silver-tipped hair, a long silver-tipped beard, and small dark eyes that bore into me like I was a particularly fine specimen of Chinook salmon. It couldn’t have helped that I’d used a honey scrub the morning we met. I should’ve known better. Not just about the scrub, but about a lot of things.
Like braving the freeway during rush hour.
Like thinking you can’t get a ticket for parking at a broken meter.
Like racing up to his penthouse in Balenciaga gladiator sandals, and expecting not to twist an ankle.
Like watching his fiancée shoot herself, and assuming it was suicide, instead of murder.
But I’m getting ahead of myself, which is another thing I should know better about. Because if I’ve learned anything at all from my study of film noir (which got me into the whole sordid Miles McCoy mess to begin with), it is to tell the story in the precise order in which it happened.
The trouble started the day before, which was Valentine’s Day, a pagan holiday named after the Roman priest who defied Claudius II by marrying Christian couples. After being hauled off in shackles, the soft-hearted cleric was beaten with clubs, stoned, and when that didn’t finish him off, publicly beheaded. Makes you think.
It had poured rain for eight days running, which isn’t what you sign on for when you live in Los Angeles. But that morning, as I stepped outside for a run, the sun was blinding—so blinding, in fact, that I didn’t see the fragrant valentine my neighbor’s dog, Engelbart, had left on the stoop for me. Not that I minded spending the next twenty minutes cleaning the grooves of my running shoe with a chopstick. It was a beautiful day. The rollerbladers were cruising the Venice boardwalk. The scent of medical marijuana was wafting through the air. Engelbart’s gastrointestinal tract was sound.
An hour later, I hopped into my mint green 1975 Mercedes convertible, and made my way up Lincoln to the freeway. I was headed to Larchmont, an incongruous stretch of Main Street, USA, sandwiched between Hollywood and Koreatown. This was where studio executives’ wives and their private school daughters came for green juice, yoga pants, and the occasional wrench from the general store that had served Hancock Park since the 1930s. It was also where my mother and grandmother ran Cellar Door, known for its chia seed porridge and life-positive service. I helped out whenever my coffers were running low. Which was most of the time.
You are probably frowning right about now. Surely a young woman who owns a classic convertible—as well as Balenciaga gladiators—should not be perennially low on funds. But it’s true.
The car came from my grandmother, who received it as part of her third (fourth?) divorce settlement and gave it to me as a gift when I strong-armed my mother into rehab for the fourth (fifth?) time. The sandals I purchased online in a frenzy of self-loathing shortly after watching my ex-boyfriend the rock god serenading his current girlfriend the supermodel on an otherwise uneventful episode of Ellen. I’d tried to return the sandals, but one of the studs had fallen off, making them damaged goods. Like their owner. Not that I’m hard on myself. It’s just that my career—I take clients on custom-designed, private tours of my hometown of L.A.—wasn’t exactly thriving, which is why I was easy prey for the likes of Miles McCoy. But I’m getting ahead of myself again. Here comes the good part. The part where I’m driving like the wind and almost don’t notice the flashing lights in my mirror. I knew I should have fixed that taillight.
I pulled over, cut the motor, handed the cop my license and registration. He looked down, then did a double take. “Dreama Black?”
That would be me.
“The Dreama Black?” he continued. “As in ‘Dreama, Little Dreama’?”
Perhaps I should explain.
I am a twenty-eight-year-old, third-generation rock ’n’ roll groupie—or “muse,” as the women in my family like to put it.
My grandmother, a fine-boned blonde who never met a gossamer shawl or Victorian boot she didn’t like, spent the sixties sleeping her way through Laurel Canyon, winding up in a house on Rothdell Trail (a.k.a. “Love Street”) purchased for her by a certain lead singer of a certain iconic band whose name is the plural of the thing that hits you on the way out.
My mother, blessed with thick, dark tresses and a way with mousse, was consort to many of the pseudo-androgynous alpha males of American hair metal, her chief claim to fame an MTV video in which she writhed across the hood of a Porsche wearing a white leotard and black, thigh-high boots. She also bought Axl Rose his first kilt.
As for me, well, I was on my way to freshman orientation when this guy I’d been seeing, who’d played a couple of no-name clubs with some friends from summer camp, intercepted me at LAX, put his lips to my ear, and hummed the opening bars of a new song I’d apparently inspired. Instead of boarding the plane for Berkeley, I boarded the tour bus with Luke Cutt and the other skinny, pimply members of Rocket Science. Four world tours, three hit albums, two Grammys, and one breakup later, “Dreama, Little Dreama”—an emo pop anthem that went gold in seven days and has sold eleven million copies to date—had made me almost famous forever.
“Step out of the car, please.”
The cop removed his sunglasses. Peach fuzz. Straight out of the academy. “So.”
He wanted to get a picture with me.
“I’d love to get a picture with you,” he said.
I smoothed down my cut-offs and striped T-shirt, removed my red Ray-Bans, ran my fingers through my long, straight, freshly balayaged auburn hair. The cop put his arm around me, leaned in close, took a couple of snaps on his phone. Let me guess. He’d had a crush on me since tenth grade, when he saw me in a white tank and no bra on the cover of Rocket Science’s debut C.D., and now he was going to post the pictures on Instagram to show all his buddies.
“Awesome.” He gave me a brotherly punch on the arm. “No way is my wife going to believe this. She’s crazy about Luke Cutt. Hey, is he really dating that Victoria’s Secret Angel? She is smoking hot.”
At least I didn’t get the ticket.

Author Bio:

An Agatha, Edgar, and SCIBA nominee, Susan Kandel is the author of the nationally best-selling and critically acclaimed Cece Caruso series, the most recent of which, Dial H for Hitchcock (Morrow), was named by NPR as one of the five best mysteries of the year. A Los Angeles native, she was trained as an art historian, taught at NYU and UCLA, and spent a decade as an art critic at the Los Angeles Times. When not writing, she volunteers as a court-appointed advocate for foster children, and loves to explore secret, forgotten, and kitschy L.A. She lives with her husband in West Hollywood.

Tour Participants:

Here's Your Chance to WIN!

This is a rafflecopter giveaway hosted by Partners in Crime Virtual Book Tours for Susan Kandel and Harper Collins. There will be 5 winners of one (1) eBook copy of Dream A Little Death by Susan Kandel. The giveaway begins on May 23rd and runs through June 27th 2017

James Ballantyne travels to Kazakhstan on a minor diplomatic assignment. A simple task, but he falls for the glamorous aide Ocksana Petrova, sent to guide him through the process. Fate leads him to the rescue of a US special agent who is the target of assassination by the Kazak authorities.

What should Ballantyne do? Should he be led by duty or compassion?

Events force his hand and he recruits smugglers to get the agent away from Kazakhstan. The escape route is dangerous and it becomes clear they are being monitored every inch of the way. Is his new love, Ocksana, behind the surveillance? Or has his own team been infiltrated?

Getting out of Kazakhstan alive will draw upon all of James’s military skills, and a lot of luck. With ambush and deception along the way, will he make it to the border and safety? How can he protect his lover? This journey through a wild country stretches every nerve.

Paul Purnell is a barrister with forty years' experience in Criminal Law. Having graduated from Oxford (Law), he spent five years in the Army, serving in Germany and the UK. He then became a trial lawyer, spending eight years as Treasury Counsel at The Central Criminal court (Old Bailey.) where he prosecuted some of the heaviest trials. After taking Silk (QC), he has engaged in cases in the Cayman Islands and in most courts throughout England. For seventeen years he was a Recorder of the Crown Court, sitting as a judge at The Central Criminal Court and elsewhere.

Paul distils this experience into highly readable stories ranging from the wild experiences of a small time crook on the first day of his freedom, to the mysterious events among a group of travelers in a storm tossed inn during a storm. They are a true medley of tales which capture the imagination. Perhaps reflecting some of the people and events from his unique experience, plus a broad dollop of his imagination.

Three volumes of his short stories have been published on Kindle, with mostly five-star reviews. He will be publishing further stories and novellas this year. His latest novel fits neatly into the thriller/adventure genre. It features James Ballantyne, an ex-army minor diplomat travelling to Kazakhstan on contract business. His duty conflicts with his sense of fair play and leads him directly into bloodshed and gunfire.

Paul makes use of his experience of Astana to flesh out this exciting tale. No one who has been to that capital can forget the Space Age architecture and the mixture of crime and opulence which breeds there. The second book in the series will be published shortly.

POP C.V. superficial facts

Barrister (QC for 20)—Senior Bencher of Inner Temple.

Recorder (part time judge) for 17 Years -sitting at Old Bailey and other courts.

Ex Mental Health Tribunal Chairman.

Spent 5 years in army (4 /7 Royal Dragoon Guards) served in Germany +UK

(Fished a finger out of tank turret trying to save gunner's hand!)

Motorcycle enthusiast (rode in Le Touquet Enduro race 1999)

Ex-Windsurfer.

Father of 3---grandfather of 5.

Francophile -speaks poor French-has cottage in France.

Roman military history enthusiast --- writes action thrillers (The James Ballantyne Series) and historical fiction.

Monday, 29 May 2017

The heart can be an assassin. Detective Billy Able knows that from experience.

Fresh from solving Memphis’ most sensational murder case, Homicide Detective Billy Able and his ambitious new partner Frankie Malone are called to a bizarre crime scene on the outskirts of town. A high society attorney has been murdered while dressed in a wedding gown. Billy is shocked to discover he has a very personal connection to the victim. When the attorney’s death exposes illegal practices at her family’s prestigious law firm, the scandal is enough to rock the southern city’s social world.

In a tale of the remnants of Old South aristocracy and entitlement, twisted by greed and vengeance, Billy must confront the secrets of his own past to have any chance at solving the murder of the girl he once knew. But as he seeks the truth, he’s drawn closer to an embittered killer bent on revenge—and eliminating the threat Billy poses.

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Devil Sent the Rain is the third book in the Detective Billy Able series, but reading this one without having read the previous two was no problem. Honestly, I was so thrilled with this book that I'm glad that I have book two to read as well.

As a big fan of books with a story that takes place in the American South was I instantly hooked with this story about a young woman in a wedding dress that is found murdered in a car. For Billy Able is this case a real shocker, the women in question, Caroline Lee, was his old sweetheart from when he was young. The typical Romeo and Juliet romance, a poor boy meets a rich girl. Now he must solve her murder.

I found Devil Sent the Rain to the kind of book that is hard to put down and the investigation into Caroline lee's life. She recently left her fiance, so why was she dressed in a wedding dress? And the members of her family is acting odd, from her cold-hearted mother to the crazy aunt who never got over the disappearance of her son Finn. Billy and his new partner Frankie Malone has to really dig to find the answers.

I really liked this book and I can't wait to read more books in this series!

I want to thank the publisher for providing me with a free copy through Edelweiss for an honest review!

Where Rainbows End by AnneMarie Brear

Publication Date: May 23, 2017

Choc Lit

eBook; ASIN: B071P7KBH6

Genre: Fiction/Historical/Romance/Western

Can she hold on to her dreams...? It’s 1850 and the Noble family have travelled to the other side of the world to start a new life after scandal drove them from their native England. Pippa Noble is determined to reclaim their honour by making her father’s plan for an outback farm reality, although her ambition is frowned upon by a society that has very set ideas about a woman’s place... Pippa learns the hard way about the unforgiving nature of the bush, sometimes with devastating consequences. And when unfortunate circumstance leads to Pippa tending the farm alone, it is the friendship of neighbouring estate owner Gil Ashford-Smith that helps her through. Then an unexpected visitor from England arrives, putting Pippa's dreams in jeopardy. But she refuses to let go. She will hold onto her family's land, even if it means losing everything else...

"A compelling story of a headstrong woman who defies the traditional female role and forages a successful life through hard work and a strong vision. Excellent descriptions of the outback and the hardships of life in Australia in the 1850's." - Amazon Review

You can purchase Where Rainbows End in eBook via:

About the Author

AnneMarie has been a life-long reader and started writing in 1997 when her children were small. She has a love of history, of grand old English houses and a fascination of what might have happened beyond their walls. Her interests include reading, genealogy, watching movies, spending time with family and eating chocolate – not always in that order!

AnneMarie grew up in Australia but now lives in the UK. For more information please visit AnneMarie Brear's website.

Saturday, 27 May 2017

In the early 20th Century, the United States government concocted a plan to import hippopotamuses into the marshlands of Louisiana to be bred and slaughtered as an alternative meat source. This is true.

Other true things about hippos: they are savage, they are fast, and their jaws can snap a man in two.

This was a terrible plan.

Contained within this volume is an 1890s America that might have been: a bayou overrun by feral hippos and mercenary hippo wranglers from around the globe. It is the story of Winslow Houndstooth and his crew. It is the story of their fortunes. It is the story of his revenge.

**********

I think in the end, that I just had too high hope on this book. Sure it's good, with an interesting story and some really gruesome scenes. But, at the same time did I feel that this was not a book that I devoured. I loved the idea of this book, with hippos in the marshlands of Louisiana and the story was interesting, but it ended when it started to get really interesting. It's a short story only 152 pages long and that could be why I felt like I wanted more meat to the story. This is book one so it will be more of them and I will definitely read them.

I do think that if you like alternative stories should you really read this book. Personally, did I struggle a bit with keeping the characters (and hippos) apart, and I would have loved a deeper introduction into each and every one of the characters. On the plus side are they interesting characters and I'm looking forward to getting to know them more in the next novella!

I want to thank the publisher for providing me with a free copy through NetGalley for an honest review!

Block 46 by Johana Gustawsson
My rating: 3 of 5 starsIn Falkenberg, Sweden, the mutilated body of talented young jewelry designer Linnea Blix is found in a snow-swept marina. In Hampstead Heath, London, the body of a young boy is discovered with similar wounds to Linnea's. Buchenwald Concentration Camp, 1944. In the midst of the hell of the Holocaust, Erich Hebner will do anything to see himself as a human again. Are the two murders the work of a serial killer, and how are they connected to shocking events at Buchenwald?

Emily Roy, a profiler on loan to Scotland Yard from the Canadian Royal Mounted Police, joins up with Linnea's friend, French true-crime writer Alexis Castells, to investigate the puzzling case. They travel between Sweden and London, and then deep into the past, as a startling and terrifying connection comes to light.

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I'm on the fence when it comes to this book, I don't deny it's a good book, it's just that I was not completely taken with the story. But, I will get to that later on. Let's start with the good things first. I found myself really loving the Swedish angel of the story. I'm Swedish, which my blog name clearly state and JohanaGustawsson has really captured the Swedish mentality (and our love for strange food Smörgåstårta is fantastic) and I found myself really like having two characters experience the life in Sweden and the contrast to England/Canada. For them, it's quite exotic, which for me was fun because it's so natural.

The case was interesting with its connection to WW2 and Buchenwald Concentration Camp. Reflecting on the end can I only say that not everything as it seems and even though I was not really surprised to learn who the killer was did Gustawsson add a final twist to the story. One that when I learned thought "of course, why did I not think about that?".

But, and here comes my big dilemma, I was never completely taken with the story. It never really sucked me in, I felt like I have kept aloof all the time, just on the edge of being taken it, but not being able to. It happens sometimes, on the paper, it's a book that seems to be written for me, but there is just something holding me back, and I do think it's because I never really felt like I got to know Alexis and Emily. They never came to life for me, and even towards the end when one of them was in real danger did I not worry because she had not fleshed out enough for me to worry about her. But, this is just me, the book is good, no doubt at all, and the right reader will love it!

Friday, 26 May 2017

When Jesse Graham almost runs over a “body” in the road one night, she is plunged into a labyrinth of secrets, lies and murder. All Jesse wants is a simple life teaching at St. Bart’s… and a chance at love with Joe Riley. She realizes that plan has been thwarted when puzzling occurrences at St. Bartholomew Academy for Girls get increasingly dangerous. The danger doesn’t just spring from the ghost who haunts the grounds of St. Bart’s, but from a sinister presence that is not ghostly at all. As she digs into the mystery, threats on her life and the life of her student escalate.

Which danger threatens her life the most? The ghost haunting her student or the secrets buried in the school?

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I listened to The Cavanaugh House by Elizabeth Meyette a while back and back and instantly knew that I needed to listen to its sequel. In the first book, The Cavanaugh House did Jesse, after breaking up with her cheating boyfriend move to the house her aunt left her. She learned that the house was haunted by her aunt and with a little bit of help from friends did she put her dead aunt to rest. Now everything should be peaceful in her life, but after finding a "body" on the road and once again "seeing" a spirit does it seem that the peaceful life she is after is just a dream for now.

I was very pleased that Amy McFadden narrated this book as well. She is very pleasant to listen to and she shifts between the characters effortless. Part of the joy of this book is listening to her tell the story.

As for Buried Secrets did I find this story a little less interesting than The Cavanaugh House. Don't take me wrong, I enjoyed the book and Jesse is a great character. It's just the plot was stronger in The Cavanaugh House and I was more taken with Jesse plight to find who killed her aunt. And, the triangle drama that I was glad to not have in the first book did occur in this book, although with a new male character. Or triangle drama, it was more failed communication problems and misunderstandings. Why can't characters just talk it book? This is a pet peeve of mine, and I'm sure other readers won't mind it as much as I did. One thing I really liked is the friendship between Jesse and Maggie, who is a nun. It's such an odd pairing and I love their banter.

I enjoyed the book and I would definitely read/listen to more books about Jesse Graham!

I received this audiobook at no-cost from Audiobookworm Promotions. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.

Mild-mannered publicist Holly Phillips is unlucky in love. She's embarrassed beyond belief when the handsome stranger she meets in a bar turns out to be 'Ultimate Man' - a superpowered hero whose rescue attempt finds her hoisted over his shoulder and flashing her knickers in the newspaper the next day.

But when Holly's fifteen minutes of fame make her a target for something villainous, she only has one place to turn - and finds the man behind the mask holds a lot more charm than his crime-fighting alter-ego.

Can Holly find love, or is superdating just as complicated as the regular kind?

BOOK REVIEW

After reading charming Colgan books about a bakery and a book bus did a book about a superhero romance feel a bit different. Well, quite a lot different. But, I was curious. I mean check out this quote from the book:

‘Could you please . . . possibly . . . possibly forget we ever met?’I thought of how much I wanted to be a journalist. I thought of what a gigantic scoop this was. I noticed how downcast and miserable he looked.‘You know,’ I said. ‘None of the pictures on the internet of the people who are supposed to be you are actually you.’‘I know,’ he said.‘I mean, Ultimate Man . . . you sound like a bra.’‘I know,’ he said. ‘All the good names were taken.’

Yeah, despite no puffins in this book did I find it charming. Holly is such a likable character and being saved by Ultimate Man sounds like a dream come true, unless that means flashing the whole world your knickers. And, not even your good knickers. And, then there is the villain, that keep showing up wherever she goes...

Spandex and the City is an easy going book with a villain that actually has a point and a different kind of love story. I mean it's not easy dating a superhero that is pretty much indestructible. Holly gets to know the backside of fame (pun intended) and it's a perfect summer book to read on the beach, I enjoyed the book a lot!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jenny Colgan is the author of numerous bestselling novels, including Christmas at the Cupcake Café and Little Beach Street Bakery. Meet Me at the Cupcake Café won the 2012 Melissa Nathan Award for Comedy Romance and was a Sunday Times top ten bestseller, as was Welcome to Rosie Hopkins’ Sweetshop of Dreams, which won the RNA Romantic Novel of the Year Award 2013. Under the Jenny T. Colgan pen name, she has also written the Doctor Who tie-in novel Dark Horizons and Doctor Who short stories Into the Nowhere, Long Way Down and All the Empty Towers. Jenny is married with three children and lives in Scotland. @jennycolgan | www.jennycolgan.com

Thursday, 25 May 2017

In the dark days of a Shetland winter, torrential rain triggers a landslide that crosses the main Lerwick-Sumburgh road and sweeps down to the sea.

At the burial of his old friend Magnus Tait, Jimmy Perez watches the flood of mud and peaty water smash through a croft house in its path. Everyone thinks the croft is uninhabited, but in the wreckage he finds the body of a dark-haired woman wearing a red silk dress. In his mind, she shares his Mediterranean ancestry and soon he becomes obsessed with tracing her identity.

Then it emerges that she was already dead before the landslide hit the house. Perez knows he must find out who she was, and how she died.

**********

Wow, what a book. I have read every single one of the books in the Shetland series, but COLD EARTH, book seven, is my favorite so far. The story is intriguing and perplexing and I especially enjoyed the interplay between Jimmy Perez and Willow Reeves.

The book starts with Jimmy Perez attending his friend Magnus Tait's funeral, but a sudden landslide puts an abrupt end to that. Luckily no one seems to have been hurt, the croft that was smashed in the landslide should be empty. However, Jimmy discovers outside the craft the body of dark-haired women wearing a red silk dress. What is she doing in a croft that should be empty? Was she murdered? Jimmy gets obsessed finding out the identity of the woman and what happened to her. But, how to find out who she is when no one knew she was in the croft in the first place, or is really so?

For new visitors do I want to explain that Cover Crush is something that my friend Erin over at Flashlight Commentary came up with and I adopted the idea together with some other friends. And, now we try to put up a Cover Crush every week. You can check below my pick of the week for their choices this week!

After a massacre outside a picturesque Yorkshire church, Detective Superintendent Alan Banks and his team must unravel a baffling a mystery—and corner a killer hiding in plain sight.

Some thoughts about the cover:

Looking at the cover and then reading the description really makes me feel like the cover feels both right and wrong. Wrong in that it's so peaceful and right in that the peaceful cover feels like the calm before the storm. Love the colors of the setting sun on the sky and water.

Tuesday, 23 May 2017

Max Tudor must contend with his new role as a father as well as a murder of a glamorous film star in the next installment in G. M. Malliet’s wildly popular series.Agatha Award-winning author G. M. Malliet has charmed mystery lovers, cozy fans, and Agatha Christie devotees with her critically acclaimed mysteries featuring handsome former-spy-turned-cleric Father Max Tudor.In The Haunted Season, Father Max Tudor’s former life as an MI5 agent has caught up with him, threatening his newfound happiness with Awena and baby son Owen. Realizing there is no escape from his past, Max, with his bishop’s tacit permission, has offered his services on an as-needed basis.Max receives the call for help when the body of glamorous film star Margot Browne washes ashore. George tells Max his former colleague Patrice Logan, now heavily pregnant, has asked Five for help—particularly, Max’s help.It’s a perfect “closed circle” murder since victim Margot must have been killed by one of the group of actors, stylists, scriptwriters, and second-tier royalty aboard. Patrice suspects the yacht’s owner, a playboy film director she’s been keeping tabs on for smuggling, but Max isn’t so sure. Max and DCI Cotton interview the suspects as they loll about one of the luxury hotels dotting the waterfront. Tipped by the playboy director, Max uncovers the truth about the star’s life and death. But would Margot kill—or be killed—to keep her lurid past in the past?Max’s investigation uncovers a host of motives but only one killer: it seems Margot is not the only person on board with a secret they’d kill to keep.

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DEVIL'S BREATH is the first book I have read by G.M. Malliet. And, thus is this the first book I have read in the Max Tudor series. However, despite being the sixth book was it was no problem for me to get the gist of the story and its characters. I must say that G.M. Malliet did a splendid job of getting new readers to get to know Max Tudor in this book, both his past with MI5 and his new life as a cleric.

The #1 internationally bestselling author of The Demonologist radically reimagines the origins of gothic literature’s founding masterpieces—Frankenstein, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Dracula—in a contemporary novel driven by relentless suspense and surprising emotion. This is the story of a man who may be the world’s one real-life monster, and the only woman who has a chance of finding him.As a forensic psychiatrist at New York’s leading institution of its kind, Dr. Lily Dominick has evaluated the mental states of some of the country’s most dangerous psychotics. But the strangely compelling client she interviewed today—a man with no name, accused of the most twisted crime—struck her as somehow different from the others, despite the two impossible claims he made.

First, that he is more than two hundred years old and personally inspired Mary Shelley, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Bram Stoker in creating the three novels of the nineteenth century that define the monstrous in the modern imagination. Second, that he’s Lily’s father. To discover the truth—behind her client, her mother’s death, herself—Dr. Dominick must embark on a journey that will threaten her career, her sanity, and ultimately her life.

Fusing the page-turning tension of a first-rate thriller with a provocative take on where thrillers come from, The Only Child will keep you up until its last unforgettable revelation.

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I loved the thought of a man who inspired Mary Shelley, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Bram Stoker to write their famous books about Frankenstein, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Dracula. That's really the very thing that made me want to read the book. It sounded so mysterious and fascinating and I love books that incorporate real authors into the story.

The Only Child is an interesting story about a woman that finds herself targeted by a man who says he is 200-years old and that he is her father. She doubts his story, but then something happens that makes her take off to Europe to find out the truth. Could this man really be who he says he is?

I found the book, at the beginning very interesting and the clues he left for Lily throughout Europe, pieces of his history, about his beginning and how he met the famous authors was interesting reading about. However, the later part of the story, with Lily finding out that that there are people out there who wants to capture the man just didn't work for me that much. I felt that storyline was not especially surprising and frankly it was a bit boring instead of thrilling to read about how they tried to catch him. I did like the ending, but at the same time was it not an especially shocking surprise that it would end the way it did. However, at least made the book end on a high note.

The Only Child is a good book, but the story was best the first half when Lily was learning more about the man who said to be her father, then when the table turned and suddenly the great organizations or whatever was after him just didn't work for me, but at least the ending was good.

I want to thank the publisher for providing me with a free copy through Edelweiss for an honest review!

Monday, 22 May 2017

For more than two hundred years, the Owens women have been blamed for everything that has gone wrong in their Massachusetts town. Gillian and Sally have endured that fate as well: as children, the sisters were forever outsiders, taunted, talked about, pointed at. Their elderly aunts almost seemed to encourage the whispers of witchery, with their musty house and their exotic concoctions and their crowd of black cats. But all Gillian and Sally wanted was to escape.

One will do so by marrying, the other by running away. But the bonds they share will bring them back—almost as if by magic...

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I have seen the movie Practical Magical several times, the last time was actually today, the day after I finished the book for the first time. Well, I did start watching the movie before I started the book. However, I decided to read the book before I finished the movie. I had a very good reason for that. I have a copy of the prequel to the Practical Magic book (The Rules of Magic) and I wanted to read Practical Magical before I started the new book.

This is one of those times when the book is nothing like the movie, however, that doesn't make the movie bad. I really liked it before I read the book, and I still like it after reading the book. They are just like night and day and there are things I miss in the book, like the spell Sally casts to not fall in love. However, the book is really good as well, I love the way Hoffman writes. This is the first book I have read by the author, but I have several books and now I can't wait to read them. It only took my one day to read Practical Magic, it's an easy book to read, engrossing and never boring. I like the characters, and knowing that the prequel will be about the aunts to Sally and Gillian really make me eager to start reading The Rules of Magic soon.

Practical Magical is a great book, and if you have never read the book do I recommend reading it. It's charming, but with a serious tone.

Summer is here! YAY! And what better way to spend the summer than reading? Here are 5 books from my neverending Wishlist! This time I'm picking 5 books that have "summer feeling" on the cover!

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A woman sets out on a cross-country road trip, unknowingly tracing in reverse the path her mother traveled thirty years before.

In the 1950s, movie star Louise Wilde is caught between an unfulfilling acting career and a shaky marriage when she receives an out-of-the-blue phone call: She has inherited the estate of Florence “Florrie” Daniels, a Hollywood screenwriter she barely recalls meeting. Among Florrie’s possessions are several unproduced screenplays, personal journals, and—inexplicably—old photographs of Louise’s mother, Ethel. On an impulse, Louise leaves a film shoot in Las Vegas and sets off for her father’s house on the East Coast, hoping for answers about the curious inheritance and, perhaps, about her own troubled marriage.

Nearly thirty years earlier, Florrie takes off on an adventure of her own, driving her Model T westward from New Jersey in pursuit of broader horizons. She has the promise of a Hollywood job and, in the passenger seat, Ethel, her best friend since childhood. Florrie will do anything for Ethel, who is desperate to reach Nevada in time to reconcile with her husband and reunite with her daughter. Ethel fears the loss of her marriage; Florrie, with long-held secrets confided only in her journal, fears its survival.

In parallel tales, the three women—Louise, Florrie, Ethel—discover that not all journeys follow a map. As they rediscover their carefree selves on the road, they learn that sometimes the paths we follow are shaped more by our traveling companions than by our destinations.In this novel authorized by the Little House estate, Sarah Miller vividly recreates the beauty, hardship, and joys of the frontier in a dazzling work of historical fiction, a captivating story that illuminates one courageous, resilient, and loving pioneer woman as never before—Caroline Ingalls, "Ma" in Laura Ingalls Wilder’s beloved Little House books.

In the frigid days of February, 1870, Caroline Ingalls and her family leave the familiar comforts of the Big Woods of Wisconsin and the warm bosom of her family, for a new life in Kansas Indian Territory. Packing what they can carry in their wagon, Caroline, her husband Charles, and their little girls, Mary and Laura, head west to settle in a beautiful, unpredictable land full of promise and peril.

The pioneer life is a hard one, especially for a pregnant woman with no friends or kin to turn to for comfort or help. The burden of work must be shouldered alone, sickness tended without the aid of doctors, and babies birthed without the accustomed hands of mothers or sisters. But Caroline’s new world is also full of tender joys. In adapting to this strange new place and transforming a rough log house built by Charles’ hands into a home, Caroline must draw on untapped wells of strength she does not know she possesses.

For more than eighty years, generations of readers have been enchanted by the adventures of the American frontier’s most famous child, Laura Ingalls Wilder, in the Little House books. Now, that familiar story is retold in this captivating tale of family, fidelity, hardship, love, and survival that vividly reimagines our past.

A stunning new novel of betrayal and forgiveness from The New York Times bestselling author.Thirty-four-year-old Eleanor Murray is consumed with guilt for causing the accident that paralyzed her sister—and for falling in love with her sister’s husband. But when her boss offers her a part-time job caring for his elderly aunt, Helena, Eleanor accepts, hoping this good deed will help atone for her mistakes.On the barrier island of Edisto, Eleanor bonds with Helena over their mutual love of music. Drawing the older woman out of her depression, Eleanor learns of her life in Hungary, with her sister, before and during World War II. She hears tales of passion and heartache, defiance and dangerous deception. And when the truth of Helena and her sister’s actions comes to light, Eleanor may finally allow herself to move past guilt and to embrace the song that lies deep in her heart…

The first book in a major new series from the #1 internationally bestselling author Lucinda Riley.Maia D’Apliese and her five sisters gather together at their childhood home, “Atlantis”—a fabulous, secluded castle situated on the shores of Lake Geneva—having been told that their beloved father, who adopted them all as babies, has died. Each of them is handed a tantalizing clue to her true heritage—a clue which takes Maia across the world to a crumbling mansion in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Once there, she begins to put together the pieces of her story and its beginnings.

Eighty years earlier in Rio’s Belle Epoque of the 1920s, Izabela Bonifacio’s father has aspirations for his daughter to marry into the aristocracy. Meanwhile, architect Heitor da Silva Costa is devising plans for an enormous statue, to be called Christ the Redeemer, and will soon travel to Paris to find the right sculptor to complete his vision. Izabela—passionate and longing to see the world—convinces her father to allow her to accompany him and his family to Europe before she is married. There, at Paul Landowski’s studio and in the heady, vibrant cafes of Montparnasse, she meets ambitious young sculptor Laurent Brouilly, and knows at once that her life will never be the same again.An evocative love story set along the Italian Riviera about a group of charismatic stars who all have secrets and pasts they try desperately--and dangerously--to hide.Rome, 1953: Hal, an itinerant journalist flailing in the post-war darkness, has come to the Eternal City to lose himself and to seek absolution for the thing that haunts him. One evening he finds himself on the steps of a palazzo, walking into a world of privilege and light. Here, on a rooftop above the city, he meets the mysterious Stella. Hal and Stella are from different worlds, but their connection is magnetic. Together, they escape the crowded party and imagine a different life, even if it's just for a night. Yet Stella vanishes all too quickly, and Hal is certain their paths won't cross again.

But a year later they are unexpectedly thrown together, after Hal receives an invitation he cannot resist. An Italian Contessa asks him to assist on a trip of a lifetime--acting as a reporter on a tremendous yacht, skimming its way along the Italian coast toward Cannes film festival, the most famous artists and movie stars of the day gathered to promote a new film.

Of all the luminaries aboard--an Italian ingenue, an American star, a reclusive director--only one holds Hal in thrall: Stella. And while each has a past that belies the gilded surface, Stella has the most to hide. As Hal's obsession with Stella grows, he becomes determined to bring back the girl she once was, the girl who's been confined to history.

An irresistibly entertaining and atmospheric novel set in some of the world's most glamorous locales, THE INVITATION is a sultry love story about the ways in which the secrets of the past stay with us--no matter how much we try to escape them.

Sunday, 21 May 2017

I have been meaning to do an update post on my blog for over a week now, but for so many reasons have I put it off, but here I am, trying to write down some bookish updates. First, the Bout of Book readathon went a bit wrong this time. I read book alright, but didn't find time enough for participating in the activities during the week or even do blog post. It was so much easier last year in May when I worked less. I did finish 6 books during the bok. Although two of them had I started before the Bout of Books readathon started.

I have been trying to cut down on reading for blog tours. To be honest, did I fail and my summer is booked. However, I really need to cut back. Today I picked a book to read that I bought years ago and it felt so nice. I love participating in blog tours. I just feel that I get stressed and irritated when I have to read for a special date, so that's why I try to cut back. Not that I don't want to read the books, it's just it's hard reading a feel good book when you want a dark thriller etc.

Right, that's it for now, going to read now!

I'm currently reading these books:

Some new bookish Instagram pics from this week, like books I'm reading, books I got and the new laptop I bought myself!

Saturday, 20 May 2017

Eric Chalmers is one of the most popular teachers at Muirpark Secondary School in Glasgow. Gentle and kind, he is the one adult students trust as a confidant. So when precocious teenager Julie Donaldson accuses Chalmers of rape, the school goes into shock. How could a deeply religious family man like Chalmers do such a thing? With some students and teachers supporting Julie, and others standing by Chalmers, life at Muirpark is far from harmonious. And then the situation gets much worse – Julie Donaldson goes missing, and the police are called in.

For DCI William Lorimer, this is the second missing persons case in a week. He's had too many sleepless nights worrying about a toddler who has been missing for several days. Julie's disappearance adds a further burden to Lorimer's already overstretched workload. With each day, the likelihood of either girl being found alive diminishes, and Lorimer finds himself racing against the clock to save innocent lives.

Author Bio:

Alex Gray was born and educated in Glasgow. After studying English and Philosophy at the University of Strathclyde, she worked as a visiting officer for the Department of Health, a time she looks upon as postgraduate education since it proved a rich source of character studies. She then trained as a secondary school teacher of English.

Alex began writing professionally in 1993 and had immediate success with short stories, articles, and commissions for BBC radio programs. She has been awarded the Scottish Association of Writers' Constable and Pitlochry trophies for her crime writing.
A regular on the Scottish bestseller lists, she is the author of thirteen DCI Lorimer novels.

She is the co-founder of the international Scottish crime writing festival, Bloody Scotland, which had its inaugural year in 2012.

Tour Participants:

Giveaway:

This is a rafflecopter giveaway hosted by Partners in Crime Virtual Book Tours for Alex Gray and Harper Collins. There will be 3 winners of one (1) eBook copy of THE RIVERMAN by Alex Gray. The giveaway begins on May 7th and runs through June 1st 2017.

About A Bookaholic Swede

A Bookaholic Swede is run by Magdalena, a bookaholic book hoarding Swede that for some reason keep on getting more books despite having enough to last a lifetime. She often claims that romance books are not for her, but she does like romance in books (but there must also be murder, or dragons, or some paranormal angle for her to enjoy the books). When she's not reading...eh...nevermind...

A Bookaholic Swede was created 2015-04-25, before that did Magdalena run a book blog called "And Now For Something Completely Different", but the title was a bit too long. But, she did start blogging back in 2014 with the site It's a Mad Mad World, the blog is still up, but less updated nowadays.